SHANGHAI Despite the last-minute compromise, House Republicans have given the Chinese Communist Party a big win in the soft-power battle for hearts and minds in China. The government shutdown made the United States appear incompetent and unreliable, boosting communist propaganda in favor of one-party rule over America's two-party partisan mess.

Western-style democracy, of which the U.S. is the world's most potent example, has strong appeal in China, particularly among young people. Fearing extinction, the Chinese Communist Party fights a constant propaganda battle against the influence of democratic ideas on Chinese youth. By forcing the world's most powerful elected government to come grinding to a halt, House Republicans provided communist propagandists with a thick, juicy slice of anti-democratic red meat.

Lambasting America

This week, Liu Chang of Xinhua, China's official state news agency, wrote: "Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world."

My five years teaching in China have provided ample opportunity to see American soft power at work. During the 2012 U.S. election, for example, the most recent change of leadership in Beijing was also underway.

Most of my college students took a keen interest in the U.S. election, and many watched all three presidential debates and even the vice presidential debate via the Internet. When we discussed the U.S. election in classes, students had a great deal to say about it and found the process of public debate, daily poll-watching and the drama of the final vote fascinating.

Missed opportunity for U.S.

When I asked them about their own change of leadership, however, students had few comments.

That's not surprising, of course. Because the entire process in Beijing took place behind closed doors, the outcome was a foregone conclusion, and the Chinese people had no role to play in it.

In a way, it's sad that young people in China would be more interested in a foreign election on the other side of the earth than a change of leadership in their own country, but it's wonderful for U.S. soft power in China.

So nothing helps Communist Party propagandists more to cast American democracy in a negative light than partisan battles in Washington resulting in gridlock.

The U.S. government shutdown forced President Obama to skip this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits.

In turn, his absence allowed the U.S. to be completely upstaged by Chinese President and Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping. Chairman Xi's unspoken message to Asia: China has a functioning government, and America doesn't.

Such a blow to American prestige may not be fatal, but it is one that the U.S. can ill afford at a time of perceived weakness and heightened rivalry with China.

In the soft-power battle for hearts and minds in China, the Republican-led U.S. shutdown was a clear defeat for American democracy and a clear win for the Chinese Communist Party.

Mark C. Eades is an American writer and educator based in Shanghai. He has taught at Fudan University, Shanghai International Studies University and in the private sector in Shanghai.